Ravens Fumble Away Final Chance at Saving Season

Add this to the annals of blown 7+ point fourth quarter leads, a familiar experience that the Ravens had gone a while since undergoing. And though Flowers' loose hands didn't produce a moment as painful as his touchback fumble in the 2024 AFC Championship game or Mark Andrews' end zone drop at the start of this year, it made for about as distinctive a dagger to a postseason push as the fans were bracing for.

Falling Fittingly Short

But at the same time, this felt like such an appropriate loss building well before they'd turned the lead over to the visitors.

These Ravens hadn't just proven untrustworthy in high-stakes situations or with late scoring advantages; the once-vaunted offense never gained the necessary composure to stop making the same sloppy mistakes to look the part of a convincing contender, even with an unimpressive division winner in the Pittsburgh Steelers reigning supreme up north. It didn't help that the defense once again buckled under the weight of a high-powered attack, this time in the clutch.

Another turnover out of Derrick Henry and Andrews' stunningly ill-timed attempt at a Magic Johnson impression seemed to be sealing their fate well before the Patriots whipped into shape, leaving just enough cracks in the door for the AFC juggernauts to burst through and punch their ticket to the playoffs.

The Ravens had their own chance at remaining alive, but only if they won out from Week 16-onwards. Barring some outcomes that are well out of their control, this is the end of the road for this group.

Flowers' moment made for its own fittingly disappointing end to three months of underperforming and increasingly necessary roster concerns, as stars like Jackson and head coach John Harbaugh now have to consider where to go from here while the front office figures out which pieces are worth paying for.

Just like it did in this weekend's finale, the perceived foundation of an inner-circle championship favorite finally crumbled under innumerable miscues, but only now have they finally run out of chances to bounce back in the following week.